Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Russia Passes Another Bigoted, Oppressive Law

Apparently laboring under the delusion that their country isn’t anti-gay enough, the Russian Duma (their legislature) has passed a new law that bans people from even talking about homosexuality. It still has to be passed by the upper chamber and signed by Putin, but that is a certainty.

A bill that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality won overwhelming approval Tuesday in Russia’s lower house of parliament.

Hours before the State Duma passed the Kremlin-backed law in a 436-0 vote with one abstention, more than two dozen protesters were attacked by hundreds of anti-gay activists and then detained by police…

The measure is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values instead of Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to the protests against Putin’s rule.

Oh, and they weren’t done:

The State Duma passed another bill on Tuesday that makes offending religious feelings a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. The bill, which passed 308-2, was introduced last year after three members of the Pussy Riot punk group were convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for an impromptu anti-Putin protest inside Moscow’s main cathedral and given two-year sentences.

In Russia, the more things change they more they stay the same — same old repressive laws, same old thugs in power.

Sadly, playing up feelings of bigotry in an attempt to focus the blame on the country’s problems away from the authoritarian seems to work. The Orthodox Church is getting quite favoured by officialdom; it’s a good way to keep people in check.

I actually watched a documentary about Pussy Riot this weekend. I can’t really see why the women arrested were given 2 years. Considering how mild the video is, they basically broke in, ran up on the altar and did a brief song and dance before they were intercepted and escorted out by security. What really amazed me was how soft spoken, articulate and polite the women that were arrested were and how horrible the people opposing them were.

The documentary features people saying that these young women should be executed for dancing on the altar at their church. A church that was demolished by the Bolsheviks to make room for a municipal swimming pool. Something of far greater public use than the church.

So, is anyone here as serious as I am about freeing Pussy Riot?. I’ve looked at pictures of the prisons on Google Earth. They seem isolated and poorly defended. A crack team of mercenaries could bust them out easily. The whole operation could e pulled off for a few hundred thousand. Sadly, Kickstarter rejected my video for raising funds to do this.

I read this story on RT and the number of anti-gay comments was horribly depressing. It’s still a deeply conservative country.

After visiting the country a few times, I’m left with the impression that this is where conservatives want to take us. Russia has a 13% flat tax, widespread inequality, a lack of effective regulation on businesses, horrifically low pay for teachers, neglected infrastructure, an underfunded public transportation system, a lack of concern about the environment, a lack of labor rights, and a general sense of cynicism about the government ever fixing any problems. It’s like a libertarian utopia.